Learners design and build an airbag system that can safely land an egg dropped from a height of 3' onto the floor. This resource includes a challenge video, leader notes, and handouts. Two supplemental videos are included: 1) An airbag landing...(View More) system in action as a NASA rover lands on Mars, and 2) NASA materials engineer Erick Ordoñez explaining how he makes sure that the materials NASA sends into space are problem-free. This challenge is part of Mission: Solar System, NASA and Design Squad® Nation, a series of hands-on activities and videos let kids apply science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills to solve design challenges. Introductory resources include resources for running a challenge, introducing the design process, and tips for facilitating open-ended challenges.(View Less)

Learners design and build a device that can take a core sample from a potato. This resource includes a challenge video, leader notes, and handouts. Two supplemental videos are included: 1) NASA's Curiosity rover drilling into a rock on Mars and...(View More) collecting a sample and 2) NASA spacewalk flight controller and trainer Allison Bolinger teaching astronauts how to work outside their spacecraft. This challenge is part of Mission: Solar System, NASA and Design Squad® Nation, a series of hands-on activities and videos let kids apply science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills to solve design challenges. Introductory resources include resources for running a challenge, introducing the design process, and tips for facilitating open-ended challenges.(View Less)

In this hands-on engineering challenge, learners design, build, and improve a model that allows a moving object to change direction using an invisible force. Mimicking the gravity-assisted travel of the New Horizons spacecraft, learners roll a steel...(View More) ball (spacecraft) past a magnet (magnetic field) to hit a target (Mars) that is off to the side. This resource includes a challenge video, leader notes, and handouts. Two supplemental videos are included: 1) the use of gravity assisted travel by NASA's New Horizons mission and 2) NASA aerospace engineer Victoria Garcia describing how she uses virtual-reality tools to design living and work spaces for astronauts. She also talks about not letting her deafness be a barrier in her life. This challenge is part of Mission: Solar System, NASA and Design Squad® Nation, a series of hands-on activities and videos let kids apply science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills to solve design challenges. Introductory resources include information on running a challenge and introducing the design process, and tips for facilitating open-ended challenges. This resource has been vetted as part of the NGSS@NSTA curated collection.(View Less)

Learners design and build a device that can pass above a surface and detect magnetic fields. This resource includes a challenge video, leader notes, and handouts. Two supplemental videos are included: 1) Measuring Magnetic Fields and 2) NASA flight...(View More) systems engineer Tracy Drain explaining her role on the Juno spacecraft team. This challenge is part of Mission: Solar System, NASA and Design Squad® Nation, a series of hands-on activities and videos let kids apply science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills to solve design challenges. Introductory resources include resources for running a challenge, introducing the design process, and tips for facilitating open-ended challenges. This resource has been vetted as part of the NGSS@NSTA curated collection.(View Less)

Learners design and build a robotic arm that can lift a cup off a table. This resource includes a challenge video, leader notes, and handouts. Two supplemental videos are also included: 1) NASA's Curiosity rover using its robotic arm to probe the...(View More) Martian surface and 2) NASA robotics engineer Sandeep Yayathi explaining how he designs and builds humanoid robots that can work alongside astronauts. This challenge is part of Mission: Solar System, NASA and Design Squad® Nation, a series of hands-on activities and videos let kids apply science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills to solve design challenges. Introductory resources include resources for running a challenge, introducing the design process, and tips for facilitating open-ended challenges. This resource has been vetted as part of the NGSS@NSTA curated collection.(View Less)

Using different perspectives- the unaided eye, a magnifying lens, and a satellite- provides different information. Children make observations of common objects- along with images of butterflies, the Mississippi River, a fire in the Colorado Black...(View More) Forest, and Mars- to learn how views from close up and views from far away change our understandings. This activity was designed for use in a library program.(View Less)

This afterschool curriculum includes six lessons plus supplementary materials (e.g., videos, PowerPoint presentations, and images) that explore how light from the electromagnetic spectrum is used as a tool for learning about the Sun. The curriculum...(View More) is designed to be flexible to meet the needs of afterschool programs and includes recommendations for partial implementation based on time constraints. It was specifically designed to engage girls in science.(View Less)

This is the first module in the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) Project Suite curriculum. Activities are self-directed by students or student teams using online videos and data from the SDO satellite to explore, research and build knowledge about...(View More) features of the Sun. Students build vocabulary, apply or demonstrate learning through real world connections, and creating resources to use in their investigations. Each activity comes with both a teacher and student guide with sequential instructions and embedded links to the needed videos and internet resources. Activity 1A: Structure of the Earth's Star takes students through the features and function of the Sun's structures using online videos, completing a "Sun Primer" data sheet using information from the videos, and creating a 3D origami model of the Sun. Students use a KWL chart to track what they have learned. Activity 1B: Observing the Sun has students capture real solar images from SDO data to find and record sunspots and track their movement across the surface of the Sun. Activity 1C has students create a pin-hole camera to use in calculating the actual diameter of the Sun, and then calculate scales to create a Earth-Sun scale model. Students reflect on their learning and results at the end of the module. An internet connection and access to computers are needed to complete this module. See related and supplementary resources for link to full curriculum. The appendix includes an alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).(View Less)

This is the second module in the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) Project Suite curriculum. Each activity is self-directed by students or student teams and uses online videos, data from the SDO satellite and hands-on activities to explore, research...(View More) and build knowledge about how and why studying the Sun's electromagnetic energy and magnetic fields help scientists better understand the Sun's activity and space weather. Students build knowledge and vocabulary, apply or demonstrate learning through real world connections and create resources to use in investigations. Both a teacher and student guide is included with sequential instructions and embedded links to the needed videos, tutorials and internet resources. In Activity 2A: The Sun and the EM Spectrum students learn how SDO uses key parts of the Sun's electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) to research regions of the Sun, create an interactive foldable to describe the different wavebands of the EMS, then use real-time SDO image data and the Helioviewer online tool to explore the Sun's regional activity. Tutorials for using Helioviewer and making the EMS foldable are included. Activity 2B: Solar activity and Magnetism has students use information in online videos and slide presentations to demonstrate concepts of magnetism and the relationship between the Sun's variable magnetic fields and sunspots. Activity 3B: Solar Research in Action! Build a Spectroscope has students create a spectroscope to observe the different wavebands of visible light, demonstrate how the Sun emits varying EMS energies, and explain how this information helps scientists understand the composition and activity of both our nearest star, and other stars in the universe. A computer for student-teams and a connection to the Internet are needed to complete this module. See related and supplementary resources for link to full curriculum. The appendix includes an alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).(View Less)

This is the third module in the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) Project Suite curriculum. Each activity is self-directed by students or student teams and utilizes online videos, data from the SDO satellite and hands-on activities to explore,...(View More) research and build knowledge about how the Sun's varying activity impacts Earth and space weather. Each activity provides opportunities to build knowledge and vocabulary, apply or demonstrate learning through real world connections and create resources to use in investigations. Both a teacher and student guide are included with sequential instructions and embedded links to the needed videos, tutorials and internet resources. In Activity 3A: Sun-Earth Interactions, students gather information from online videos and create a 3D model to demonstrate the relationship to Earth's place in space and the affect of Earth's axial tilt on our seasons, then film a short video explaining the reasons for the seasons. Activity 3B: Space Weather, students use online videos to gather information on what space weather is, and its causes and effects, to create a concept map. They then use real-time SDO data to forecast space weather. Activity 3C: Solar Research in Action! Make a Magnetometer has students view information in online videos about to Earth's magnetosphere and the impacts of space weather, then create a magnetometer to detect and visualize changes in the Earth's magnetic fields to monitor solar storm impacts. A computer for student-teams and access to the internet are needed for this module. See related and supplementary resources for link to full curriculum. The appendix includes an alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).(View Less)